# Easy question, re: Pearl Harbor **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362 "2005-01-30T01:54:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/1 "2005-01-30T01:54:15Z")
What does “Tora Tora Tora” mean? All I’m finding are links to the movie. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/2 "2005-01-30T02:01:33Z")
IIRC, Attack, Attack, Attack. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/3 "2005-01-30T02:13:32Z")
Wasn’t it “Tiger, tiger, tiger”? ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/4 "2005-01-30T02:28:42Z")
> [@gatopescado](#): > > Wasn’t it “Tiger, tiger, tiger”? I thought it was, “Attack, tiger!”,3 times. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/5 "2005-01-30T02:30:52Z")
This [page](http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/history/pearlharbor_timeline.html) says > [@](#): > > **0749** hours > > Air-attack commander Mitsuo Fuchida, looking down on Pearl Harbor, sees no aircraft carriers, which the Japanese hoped to destroy and thus thwart U.S. retaliation. He orders his telegraph operator to tap out _to, to, to_: attack. Then other taps: _to ra, to ra, to ra_: attack, surprise achieved. > > Though not meant to have a double meaning, _to ra_ is read by some Japanese pilots as _tora_—tiger. And according to a Japanese saying, “A tiger goes out 1,000 ri [2,000 miles/3,218 kilometers] and returns without fail.” ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/6 "2005-01-30T03:35:15Z")
> [@gatopescado](#): > > Wasn’t it “Tiger, tiger, tiger”? I thought it was, “Attack, tiger!”,3 times. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/7 "2005-01-30T08:32:52Z")
> [@gatopescado](#): > > Wasn’t it “Tiger, tiger, tiger”? I think so. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/8 "2005-01-30T09:24:21Z")
“Tora” means tiger in Japanese. To/ra in some combination must be a kind of code, because those are not standard terms for attack/surprise. “To” (whether long or short) is a bland phoneme in Japanese. It could be a bunch of different things. “Ra” (only the short syllable is commonly used) on the other hand doesn’t have a lot of meanings. None of them are connected to “surprise,” unless the meaning of “naked” refers to the enemy’s lack of protection. Seems unlikely. In other words, no really useful information in this thread yet, as far as I can see. Except that “tora” definitely means “tiger.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/9 "2016-07-28T19:33:22Z")
Yeah, yeah, old thread. But the OP and the last responder are both active members. Anyway. . . [apparently there is some debate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tora!_Tora!_Tora!#Etymology_of_Tora) as to whether “Tora” was meant to mean ‘tiger’ or whether it was just the two unrelated syllables that indicated the attack was to commence, but it wasn’t fleshed out very much in the earlier thread. I’ll defer other research to more knowledgeable people. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/10 "2016-07-28T20:16:34Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > [apparently there is some debate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tora!_Tora!_Tora!#Etymology_of_Tora) as to whether “Tora” was meant to mean ‘tiger’ or whether it was just the two unrelated syllables that indicated the attack was to commence. I’d always assumed that it meant ‘tiger’, and was a codeword used in the same way as the now-unprintable codeword used by Guy Gibson to indicate the breech of the Möhne Dam. That is, it was a word unrelated to the mission, but had a meaning understood by prearrangement. I had not heard of the consonant-vowel pairs theory, but it makes as much sense as the traditional codeword. Actually, I think it makes more sense because the attack was undertaken by the IJN. Being the Navy, they may have developed codes based on (inspired by) signal flags. For example, in the USN ‘[Bravo](http://vector.me/files/images/1/8/18131/bravo_flag.png) [Zulu](http://bootcamp.coastguard.dodlive.mil/files/2013/11/Zulu-300x23111.jpg)’ means ‘Well done.’ A two-syllable radio call could very well be analogous to a two-flag message. My mom knew one of the pilots who flew in _Tora! Tora! Tora!_. He took us to see the movie when it came out. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/11 "2016-07-28T20:18:59Z")
So they weren’t Jewish? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/12 "2016-07-28T20:29:02Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > So they weren’t Jewish? [_Magnum P.I._](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0639758/) [_NYPD Blue_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0656438/) ---
**Author:** ![Nelson\_Pike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Nelson\_Pike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nelson_Pike)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/13 "2016-07-28T20:59:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > So they weren’t Jewish? What a Juvenile, Kindergarten-level, unserious, value-subtracted, stupidfuckofapost. We are trying to have a serious discussion here, and somedork says hahaha lets make a joke out of it. This is the kind of shitpost which deserves a lot more zealotry from the already undeniably superzealous SDMB MOD CORPS. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/14 "2016-07-28T21:18:57Z")
This is General Questions, where jokes often appear, especially once (a) the question has been factually answered, (b) ten posts precede the joke, and © ten years have passed since the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/15 "2016-07-28T21:32:52Z")
> [@Nelson\_Pike](#): > > What a Juvenile, Kindergarten-level, unserious, value-subtracted, stupidfuckofapost. > > We are trying to have a serious discussion here, and somedork says hahaha lets make a joke out of it. > > This is the kind of shitpost which deserves a lot more zealotry from the already undeniably superzealous SDMB MOD CORPS. You appear to be in the wrong thread, m’friend. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/16 "2016-07-28T21:46:06Z")
> [@Nelson\_Pike](#): > > What a Juvenile, Kindergarten-level, unserious, value-subtracted, stupidfuckofapost. > > We are trying to have a serious discussion here, and somedork says hahaha lets make a joke out of it. > > This is the kind of shitpost which deserves a lot more zealotry from the already undeniably superzealous SDMB MOD CORPS. **Moderator Warning** One kind of post that does get zealotry from moderators are insults to other posters. This is an official warning. If you have a problem with a post, report it and let us deal with it. Do not do this again. Colibri General Questions Moderator ETA. Jokes are permitted in General Questions after the question has received some factual responses. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/17 "2016-07-28T22:08:44Z")
> [@Nelson\_Pike](#): > > What a Juvenile, Kindergarten-level, unserious, value-subtracted, stupidfuckofapost. > > We are trying to have a serious discussion here, and somedork says hahaha lets make a joke out of it. > > This is the kind of shitpost which deserves a lot more zealotry from the already undeniably superzealous SDMB MOD CORPS. Lighten up, Francis. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/18 "2016-07-28T22:18:51Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Lighten up, Francis. Let’s not junior-mod, either, especially when a mod has already addressed the post. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/19 "2016-07-29T00:32:23Z")
For the record, I was mocking, not junior-modding. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362/20 "2016-07-29T01:04:49Z")
I always assume posts by **silenus** have a high mockery quotient. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-question-re-pearl-harbor/287362.md?page=2)